Reloading for my P90

[Dantforth]

I have never reloaded 45acp before today and have no experience with similar handgun cartridges. I have reloaded for many years but mostly rifle cartridges. So I experimented with one....six grains of Unique and a cast 230 grain round nose bullet. My first attempt was successful so I then tried two as I was wondering about function. Both worked fine and function was good with slide staying back as it should when empty. Now, my question. I see that my old reloading guide suggests between 5.0 on the low end and 7.2 grns. for maximum. Being safety conscious I started at 6.0. Will I do any harm by gradually going up towards maximum or should I just leave it as is. I am not using it for self defence or hunting but for target work only. David

 

[luvmyRugers]

Hi David,
As I am sure you already know, Rugers are built like tanks! Especially the P series. You shouldn't have any problem going full boat on your loads. Good luck with your experimenting and let us know how it goes.
Randy

 

[mikld]

Yeah, of course you can go up, but do you have a need for upper velocity/pressure rounds? My P90 is accurate and functions great well below max. loads. The only problem I had with reloads for my P90 is it didn't like SWC bullets, but I didn't go into finding a solution, I just kept with 225 RN...

 

[wizofwas]

Why not try going up and down? See which way is more comfortable to shoot and also check for accuracy. There's no rule that says you have to have max loads for target practice. For the 45 ACP, I like to shoot a 200 Gr. SWC with 3.5 Gr. of Bullseye. It's slow and accurate and functions in every weapon I've tried it in. Of course YMMV.

 

[Dantforth]

Thanks guys for your input. I think I will load what I have at the 6.0 grains of Unique and go from there. I will have a chance to test them in a couple of weeks and will report back. David

 

[Cheesewhiz]

I posted in another thread that I have found that 9mm likes to be loaded in the upper reaches of its data in order for both its deviation and accuracy to become optimal. With .45 ACP and 230gr RN bullets I don't find that to be necessarily the case at least in the .45 ACP pistols that I own.

 

[Dantforth]

They are cast and sized .451". I just love this pistol and wonder, if a fellow was going to carry it for protection in the woods, using loads in the top of the range, is there a change that should be made to a recoil spring or bushing? As an aside, can a new guide rod be purchased for the P90?

 

[jeffnles1]

Most accurate load in my P90 is 5.6gr Unique and 230gr lead round nose.

Load also works wonders in my Kimber 4" 1911.

For punching holes in paper and plinking no need to go hotter.

I do use various hollow points *think I have gold dots right now) for SD ammo and hope I never have to use the stuff. But for plinking, I've put many thousands of rounds of the above (5.6g Unique / 230gr LRN bullet) down range.

Jeff

 

[Flash]

Try not to hammer your P90 to death because it's unlikely that you'll easily find parts. I stay away from max loads on semi automatics due to the pounding that the slide and frame take.

 

[toysoldier]

I've mostly reloaded 230 grain FMJ over 5.0 grains of Bullseye for my P90, but tried some hard lead RN from the Lee 456-220-1R mould, intended for the Ruger Old Army. Swaged them to .452 and loaded them to proper OAL. They wouldn't chamber fully, catching on the rifling. There was no problem shooting them in my S&W 1917.

 

[Chief_10Beers]

Danforth - Even though I did not stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, I did own for several years a P90,
and I have loaded 230 grain bullets for it, also using Unique as one of my powders. So, maybe I can help.

You don't note in your original post whether your 230 grain bullet is lead or jacketed. Given that you asked
about Unique I can tell you that I had a very nice load for Hornady's 230 grain Jacketed Hollow Point (JHP)
bullet, which they call an "XTP." Interestingly, I had a load using Win 231 in which I used identical powder
charges as I used of Unique. This was 5.7 grains. Maybe 5.8 grains.

This load is plenty peppy. If you want to see what the upper limits are that your P90 can take, well, that's up
to you, but I don't know why you'd want to do that. Yes, your P90 was approved for +P loads when Ruger was
still producing that pistol. But if all you're doing is blasting paper targets with it I doubt you need anything
more than the recipe I just shared with you. For what it's worth, as much as I love Win 231 as a powder, I
have to admit that this 5.7 grains of Unique was darn near as accurate (if not JUST as accurate) of the same
charge of Win 231. I'm not near my loading notes, but I believe this load runs right around 800 fps. Plenty
zippy enough for shooting targets or for self defense too. By the way, with these loads, I used Winny LPP
and Winny cases. The 230 grain Hornady JHP was seated to give a COL of 1.228 to 1.230 inches. Hope this
is of help to you. - DixieBoy

My loads are very similar to your loads. 230gr Cast or FMJ RN I use 5.6gr of HP-38/231 with a COL 1.265, works well with my P90, P345, Springer Loaded 1911-A1 and 45 BHFT Convertible....................................